Johnson missed practice Wednesday and Thursday, but expects to play Friday. Kadji also said he'll play coming off a loss coach Jim Larranaga called "awful."

"The term I'd use is a sense of urgency," he said. "We don't seem to have a sense of urgency about anything. It's a very laid back group."

Johnson, who was the most vocal about Miami's preseason expectations, said there's no reason to panic. Shooters just aren't hitting their shots, he said. That'll come and the results will come. But the focus wasn't there against Florida Gulf Coast.

"We didn't go in with 'This is Indiana or Kentucky or Carolina,'" he said. "So in that sense, there was a kind of disrespect going in and playing those guys."

Johnson said there's no reason for an emotional locker room speech because it's so early in the season. Larkin did reach out to several teammates through text messages after the Tuesday loss, though.

The exhibition loss to Division II St. Leo was a wake up call, Kadji said, but the narrow 87-79 win over Stetson allowed the team "to relax again."

"I don't know if it's the preseason hype or people saying that we could be pretty good," Kadji said. "But Coach L has been talking to us in practice and telling us we're not the team that we think we are."

The message is coming through, he said. But he still thinks those expectations could become reality once things start clicking.

Friday's game will be the final contest starting guard Durand Scott will miss with his NCAA-related suspension. Kadji called Scott "the heart and soul of the team," so his void is a big one.

Miami (1-1) will have a full week off before Detroit comes to the BankUnited Center on Nov. 24.